Upwelling at the ice edge - A mechanism for deep water formation?

• Main Author: Hakkinen, Sirpa
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1987
• Subjects: 48; Arctic; Greenland; Greenland Sea
• Online Access: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19870055473

This study sets forward a hypothesis which anticipates deep water formation due to ice edge upwelling. The upwelling can raise thermocline waters (the lower Arctic Intermediate Water) to the surface or near it, where the water is exposed to cooling, evaporation, mixing, and oxygenation. Thus, upwelling can act as a preconditioning mechanism for deep convection. The conjecture would also explain the salinity range of the Greenland Sea Deep Water if the upper and lower Arctic Intermediate Water masses are mixed so that the latter has at least an 80-percent contribution. It is also anticipated that the convection events induced by ice edge upwelling during winter season could give rise to a new deep water annual production rate consistent with observations.